Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

No DVD drive in new iMac ???

So I have just completely upgraded my 15 years of home movies on DVD over the last year.

I converted video, old DVDs and used imovie to make great copies for all the family.


I just learned that if I get a new imac from Dec 2012, they have no DVD drive ?

What ?

If its true, then I need to buy into some device that can play and burn them for the next years.


Yep, Apple have a vision, but I cannot see it and I am 50.

In 180 months , when I am 65, I wont care about the visons of Apple.

But i will care about the memories on the discs and as Apple dont let on why they restrict the continuation or stop the use or anyone else using aformat that quite honestly is massively serviceable today and will be for some years.


Glad I dint chucj out the old dell and also, I will going fire her up to play my movies and memories. Steve Jobs is pictured on some of those DVDs, guess the new guys wanted to move on pretty fast from that era too !


Hmmm, now where is the off button, I need to do some exercise and get real again !


see ya

iMac (27-inch Mid 2011)

Posted on Oct 23, 2012 3:19 PM

Reply
Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Oct 23, 2012 3:30 PM

Just do what I will be doing: don't buy a new iMac! 👿


With no Firewire you won't be able to connect your video camera either!

1,509 replies

Oct 23, 2012 11:40 PM in response to Klaus1

I won't be buying an IMac either. No dvd what a dumb move. Pretty much kills imovie. No firewire, jeez now all my firewire accessories won't work.


No imac for me, this may just force me to get a windows box. I can't believe I just said that.


I was expecting blue ray next, not the elimation of the dvd drive.



Apple has been doing some really stupid things lately.

Oct 23, 2012 11:51 PM in response to grandfield

You could use an external DVD drive but that defeats the whole purpose of having an iMac ... in my view, to keep everything confined within a limited area and avoid clutter.


When App store was introduced I had my knuckles wrapped by a senior contributor here for forecasting the reduction of built in facilities and the increasing transfer of them to the App store. Well, time has shown I was right and I think we shall soon see a collection of accessories like design matched external drives etc. I hope not.

Oct 24, 2012 12:02 AM in response to seventy one

External DVD drive? what is this the 1990's again? Now you have to add in a couple of hundred dollars to buy an external drive? This is getting dumber by the day. Now with ISPs implementing bandwidth caps and Apple is trying to grow bandwidth, I see a problem forming. My wife got her demo CD from the studio, how is she would she listen to it? My clients need a CD of their photo shoot how am I going to give them one? Oh right spend a hundred more on top of the premium price of the imac.


I'm as die hard a apple person as they come, but this is really a dumb move. WAY before it's time. I still burn CDs for my 2 cars as they don't have ipod intergration. Oh wait you want music in your car, buy and ipod to go with your external DVD. This is a GIANT step in the wrong direction.


Wait, they say use a USB stick, well USB sticks are not cheap like DVD's to hand out to family of the trip we just took. I have a pile of DVDs from past trips, how will i pay for that.


I KNOW, but a window box. I still can't believe that acutally makes sense. A windows box with a blue ray player, so I can play the blue ray discs I get from Netflix.


Oh wait they just killed my video cameras too with deleting firewire.

Oct 24, 2012 12:23 AM in response to grandfield

My girlfriend told me the new iMacs came out today.. and she told they were really thin and being the apple ***** that I am I immediately started thinking about getting rid of my iMac 2010 27 inch quad core.. nothing wrong with it but I love the thinness of the new one.


Then I saw this.. no DVD drive? R u serious? On a home computer?


I can give my perspective on what that means for me.


It means that all the DVDs of old shows I have been buying and watching in the kitchen with dinner, I wont be able to watch anymore. I can get all these DVDs at my local store, for much much cheaper.


Im not a tight wad, I have an iPhone 5, Macbook Retina 15, iPad 3, Apple TV, iPod etc.. I love Apple but cmon guys..


I cant pay $250 eveytime I want to watch a 10 year old series.. when I can buy a hard copy for $60.


Especially when the digital copy you can only watch on your mac or Apple tv, and the other you can watch on everything - without using your precious and expensive internet bandwidth. I thought going digital, and having more limited playing devices, meant cheaper product costs for us, since we are footing the bill for everything required to play.


Sorry, but I have just paid nearly $240 to watch "Curb Your Enthusiasm" on Apple.. and its great.. but I could have bought it for a 3rd of that price.. and then given it to someone when finished.


This might seem irrelevant to the discussion, but its a very real aspect of what the new iMac is saying to me.


Sorry Apple, but I upgrade nearly every 1-3 years all my different Apple products (Phone every year, macs every 2-3 years) but you cant tell me to kill off DVDs so i can buy all the digital content, which is so limited, and 3 times the price.


Actually I was up when the iPad got announced first.. I just bought my iPad 3 in July.. And I see today they released one, already twice as powerful, and real 4G on it! Not impressed the iPad 3 only came out in May didnt it? And we were told it was 4G!


I am NOT one of those people that complain when a new model comes out, I understand and appreciate this. Its technology it moves on or it doesnt sell. I had my iMac 2010 and didnt blink when 2011, 12 etc came out.


I had my iPad 2 and didnt care when iPad 2 or 3 came out.. fair calls.. Same when I had my old MBP, or Macbook and they got updated after time.. again this is completely reasonable in my eyes at least.


But this move today.. I dont know.. a bit too strong for my liking, and a bit too soon as well.. Hopefully its not a new direction cause quick updates will kill the resale market which is why so many of us are able to upgrade all the time also..


what do you guys think?

Oct 24, 2012 12:13 AM in response to Creeper523

Agree, agree, agree. I'm breaking all the rules and speculating, though a modicum of humour is intended, too.


My mini office at home is so neat and tidy BECAUSE I can organise things around one iMac, a small printer and a hidden external HD. I love it, my wife loves it and my son is deadly envious. It's why I bought Apple.


But if anyone sees Apple changing their mind after this level of investment, they've got another think coming.

Oct 24, 2012 12:15 AM in response to seventy one

A thin desktop is not one of my priorities I'm not carrying it around. A dvd burner is. Too much emphasis on THIN. There is a thing called too thin. I've had a hard drive failure in all my imacs and they are getting tougher and tougher to replace by the end user.


What the heck are they thinking putting the SD slot on the back. I'd have to turn the thing with wires attached each time I wanted to insert a SD card, which I do often. They should have put it on the front.


Just when I was looking to upgrade my desktop they dropped this rotten egg in my lap.

Oct 24, 2012 12:44 AM in response to WisdomTooth

I'll not be even thinkng about a newer Mac, Firewire was one of Apple's best invetions ever, (NASA & the Military have FW1600, FW/3200, & likely FW/6400)... I could sell you a ton of Apple adapters that were non-standard for... I don't know... let's say $1,000,00???


Faster is better, thinner might not really be, getting rid of the glossy screen is a wowser, but Glossy was a loss to start with.


Truth be told, if I had just one of Apple's Billions, I restart the Atari platform & blow all other OSEs away. 😝

Oct 24, 2012 10:30 PM in response to grandfield

I’m an apple user and I need DVD. I do weddings and brides want a DVD with their face on it
 The DVD they provide will block a USB port that I need for other stuff
Firewire solution is lame also, lots of adapters to buy... Good machine thou. Think it’ll be really fast. Shame they don’t think in audio/video people anymore


Oct 25, 2012 3:56 AM in response to stefano67

stefano67 wrote:

Then you can add an external DVD for 100 bucks, a firewire adapter for 30 bucks, and a USB hub because 2 ports are gone already.

USB 3 is backwards compatible with USB 2 so you don't need to buy anything special to use your USB 2 stuff with the new iMacs. Otherwise, you are correct about this. You will need to buy a FW adaptor if you have FW devices you want to use with the new iMacs & an optical drive if you want that capability.


The $79 Apple USB "Superdrive" probably will work with the new iMacs (The page doesn't list them as compatible, but that is probably just because these iMacs haven't been released yet.) There will also probably be several third party optical drives that are compatible, some probably cheaper than that, but we will just have to wait & see about that.

No DVD drive in new iMac ???

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.